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The Lake County Information Technology Department is completing a response to the company's request for information, which is due by 5 p.m. Friday.
In conjunction with that effort, a Facebook page titled “Lake County for Google Fiber” went live Wednesday evening.
The page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lake-County-for-Google-Fiber/112982728711959?ref=tsf .
Community members also can separately nominate Lake County to strengthen its selection chances by visiting www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options .
The Google Fiber experiment is an effort that the company hopes “will make Internet access better and faster for everyone.”
It will include testing ultra-high speed broadband networks with fiber-to-the-home connections in one or more trial locations across the country, with a plan to offer the service at a competitive price at least 50,000 people – and possibly as many as 500,000 people.
Internet speeds used in the trials are expected to be more than one gigabit per second, which Google reported is 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.
For comparison, Lake County News' Internet connection, when tested by Speedtest.net Wednesday evening, averaged between 6 and 18 megabites per second for download and about 1.4 megabites per second for upload.
The company said it also wants to see how the higher Internet speeds benefit application developers and support fiber networks in other areas.
The Google Fiber project is expected to be similar to the company's citywide WiFi network in Mountain View.
For more information about the project and to view a video about it, visit www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/ .
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
It's the second ballot measure for November that Bowen has certified, the first being related to the state water supply.
The last day to qualify any measure for the November General Election ballot is June 24.
In order to qualify for the ballot, the marijuana initiative needed 433,971 valid petition signatures, which is equal to 5 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2006 General Election.
The initiative proponents submitted 694,248 signatures in an attempt to qualify the measure, and it qualified through the random sample signature check.
County elections officials have 30 working days to verify the validity of the signatures filed with
their offices using a random sampling method. The state Elections Code requires county elections officials to verify 500 signatures, or 3 percent of the number of signatures filed in their county, whichever is greater.
Counties receiving fewer than 500 petition signatures are required to verify all the signatures filed in their elections offices.
An initiative can qualify via random sampling, without further verification, if the sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110 percent of the required number. This initiative needed at least 477,369 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.
The Attorney General’s official title and summary of the initiative is as follows:
CHANGES CALIFORNIA LAW TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA AND ALLOW IT TO BE REGULATED AND TAXED. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Allows people 21 years old or older to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for personal use. Permits local governments to regulate and tax commercial production and sale of marijuana to people 21 years old or older. Prohibits people from possessing marijuana on school grounds, using it in public, smoking it while minors are present, or providing it to anyone under 21 years old. Maintains current prohibitions against driving while impaired. Summary of estimate by governments: Savings of up to several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments on the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. Unknown but potentially major tax, fee, and benefit
assessment revenues to state and local government related to the production and sale of marijuana products. (09-0024.)
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WILLOWS – A Paradise man escaped injury Wednesday when the small airplane he was flying crashed at the Willows Airport in Glenn County.
Carl Donald Stuckey Jr., 62, was flying an experimental class Kit Fox model XL single engine aircraft and approaching the landing strip at the Willows Airport when the plane's engine stalled, according to a report from Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones.
A motorist traveling along Interstate 5, Dane Entze of Oregon City, Ore., saw the crash and called 911. Sheriff’s Community Service Officer Barry Corbin was at the Sheriff’s Animal Control Office at the airport and responded immediately, confirming Stuckey was uninjured, Jones reported.
Stuckey told Det. Greg Felton, who was assigned to conduct a preliminary investigation, that he had departed the Paradise Airport at approximately 9:15 a.m. using visual flight rules and was en route to the Willows Airport to eat breakfast at the Airport Café.
As Stuckey was above the runway making his approach to land, the engine stalled, and when the tires impacted with the pavement, the aircraft bounced off the runway, Jones reported.
Stuckey said he added full power in order to level the aircraft and continue the landing process, however the plane bounced again upon contact with pavement. He then reportedly added power and attempted to correct but the craft ground looped, taking him off the runway impacting the grassy area between the runway and the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, Jones said.
The aircraft came to rest some distance from the interstate. The report said the smell of fuel was heavy in the air, however there was no fire.
The aircraft, manufactured in 1995, sustained major damage to the propeller, engine cowling and tail section. Jones said that Stuckey insisted, even though experiencing a crash landing, he sustained no injuries and declined medical examination.
Federal Aviation Administration Investigator Jim Hinson was contacted and requested the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office forward its report and photographs to the FAA, Jones said.
Glenn County Airport Manager Randy Murphy responded to the scene and inspected the runway for any possible damage; which he did not find. The airport was at no point closed to normal operations.
Jones said the Kit Fox was removed from the impact site by airport staff and will be temporarily stored in a hanger until the pilot can make arrangements for its removal.
The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office made arrangements for Stuckey’s transportation back to the Paradise Airport, Jones said.
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LUCERNE – Work on a new pier for the town of Lucerne is under way, with park expansion to follow.
The Third Avenue Plaza project, the planning and grant work which has been under way since early 2005, will include a new pier and land improvements at Third Avenue and Highway 20, according to county Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely.
Seely said the project's first phase is the 180-foot-long pier and a seawall, scheduled to be completed by May 1.
The pier will have a 40 foot by 60 foot deck at the end, with a 15 foot by 30 foot shade structure, Seely said. A pump for the irrigation system on land also will be installed on the pier to upgrade the system at Alpine Park and the area next to the pier.
Seely said the pier project has several funding streams, including the Wildlife Conservation Board, a state funding source, and the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, for a total of $472,000.
Because of the competitiveness of the bidding market right now, the money is also being used to cover a portion of the seawall, which Seely said the county didn't initially anticipate.
Once the pier project is done, work on the landward improvements will start around June 1, with completion slated for around September, he said. The land improvements will include new landscaping, picnic tables, new sidewalks and other amenities.
Several sources also are funding the improvements on land, he said, including the state's Roberti-Z'Berg-Harris grant fund, which is supplying $500,000 toward the park improvements, plus $300,000 from the redevelopment agency and a match of between $100,000 and $150,000 from the county general fund for the state grant.
A feasibility study on the project was done in June of 2005 and the permitting process started in 2007. Seely said county funds were used to buy the land on both sides of a home on the lakeshore known locally as “the blue monster.” That house later was purchased by the county and torn down, and will be part of the park area.
The overall project has had delays as the county has worked with a number of state and federal agencies, which Seely said included the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Fish and Game and Caltrans.
Seely said the project has had to undergo revisions, mostly to do with requirements from Caltrans. That's because the project includes new sidewalks in the Highway 20 right-of-way.
“It's been a long process working with Caltrans,” he said, with some fine tuning still under way.
Seely said the project was broken into two parks for reasons including the hope that a local marine contractor would bid on the pier. However, the lowest responsible bid came from a Redding firm, Stewart Engineering.
They also had time limits to the grant funding, which he said necessitated moving forward with the project's most critical parts – the pier and seawall – first, in order to avoid losing the money.
He added that the state also was having problems issuing bonds to cover its grant obligations. “We weren't sure that was going to happen.”
In recent years the county's redevelopment agency has made significant investments in Lucerne.
Those include park and restroom improvements, purchases of land as part of the promenade, bank stabilization and tree planting along Lucerne Creek, sidewalk projects, the Harbor Village Artists colony, and new playground equipment at Lucerne Harbor Park, to name a few.
Seely didn't have a figure readily available for the overall investment in the community, but noted, “It's a substantial amount.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
In a bit of CyberSoulMan sleight of hand and push button technology time manipulation, I was able to broadcast live the interview I did with great Sean Carney even as he cruised at 30,000 plus feet, California-bound for his Monday night Blue Monday gig at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake. The interview was broadcast on my Monday morning Blues radio show at 8 a.m. on 88.1 FM.
In truth, the interview was taped the prior Friday for broadcast Monday morning. We just set it up to sound live for effect, before admitting toward the end of the segment that it was actually a few days old.
If you missed it or would like another crack at it and are up early enough on Wednesday morning, it will be rebroadcast at 6 a.m. on KPF Zed.
That’s what I said.
The celebrated Sean Carney Band did indeed bring their brand of Columbus, Ohio Blues to the Blue Wing Saloon for this week’s Blue Monday session.
After a minimum of tuning up, three fourths of the quartet disappeared. Guitarist Sean Carney stood at the mic, almost unnoticed by the dinner crowed until he strummed the first chord to Robert Johnson’s “Kind Hearted Woman Blues.”
Carney got our attention by changing the first line to, “I’ve got an evil hearted woman …” The set got better and better from there.
The West Coast Edition of the Sean Carney Band includes his stalwart Columbus, Ohio drummer Eric Blume, San Francisco-based Phil Berkowitz and Tom Bowers on harmonica and bass, respectively. Carney brought them up one by one.
On the second number Berkowitz stepped onstage for a duet with Carney which included the delectable hook thus stated, “I’ve got those Oreo cream sandwich chocolate covered cream filled cookie blues.” Umm, umm, slow groove established, the Blue Wing patrons dined on and started to get into it.
The band did another Robert Johnson song, “Ramblin’ On My Mind” and the slow belly rubbin’ groove continued. No dancers yet, I thought. It was just the lull before the storm.
Punctuatin’ Papa, Eric Blume was holding the keys to the dance kingdom. He clicked it up a notch during the next instrumental. Between Sean Carney's vocal exclamations of “yeah” and stinging, jazz-inflected guitar riffs it was starting to heat up.
On the next tune, the Willie Dixon penned, “Too Many Cooks,” the front door of the Blue Wing opened and the setting sun streamed in light, along with Dancin’ Karen and a cadre of dancers who did kind of a Soul Train line straight to the dance floor. Suddenly the dance floor was filled. Another magic moment at the Blue Wing.
And so it went. The Sean Carney Band smoked for two sets in between a short break.
The sure fire formula was the Blue Monday remedy. Start slowly, warm it up gradually and break out the up-tempo dance tunes so the dancers can keep in shape.
Excuse me, but we needed to break a sweat. Winter is officially over.
Carney did some no-look-behind-the-head fancy guitar work. Everyone in the band soloed admirably.
When the show finally ended, one encore past the designated stop time of 9 p.m., the whole joint was aglow.
The Sean Carney Band appears Wednesday night in San Francisco at Rassella’s. Then it’s on to Mexico and beyond.
Sooner or later they will be back at the Blue Wing. Yes, you yet have another chance.
For more information on the Sean Carney Band go to www.seancarneyband.com .
Keep prayin’, keep thinking those kind thoughts!
T. Watts is a writer, radio host and music critic.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
Kelseyville Senior Center was among buildings in the town tagged with graffiti.
Students from a local church Kelseyville High School – shocked to see the damage to the senior center – volunteered to clean it up.
Holden Braider, Linda Ross, Ruth Balzer, Mackenzie Turner and Chelo Krag of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County and Adryan Segura, Jordan Brown, Natalio Rojas, Garrett Huggins and Nick Rodriques of Kelseyville High School worked Sunday morning to repaint the side of the building.
Several people stopped by to thank the students for their hard work including many of the seniors who use the center.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
